James Alexander Michie: The story of Robin Lehner | The Athletic

Islanders goalie Robin Lehner opens up about his addiction and bipolar diagnosis: ‘I could not stand being alone in my brain’

Author: James Alexander Michie

Robin Lehner, an NHL veteran goalkeeper, is 27 years old and signed a contract with the New York Islanders in July. The same was expressed in terms of his addiction and his bipolar diagnosis, which ensures that at one point he could not stand being alone in his brain.

The Islanders goalkeeper talks about one of his experiences during a meeting on the ice, in which the minutes every time passed slower and his physical and mental health were not at their best, for a moment he thought that only he was exhausted but despite this he could continue on the ice rink and did so, but he had a constant pain in his chest that as the score went by, Lehner felt worse as the pain intensified more and more making everything it became blurry for him and likewise he lost focus, leaving as a consequence that he would panic in fact the player says that he broke up and in an instant he thought he was suffering a heart attack but did not really know what was happening to him.

After that his doctors and coaches managed to calm him down and likewise he was sent home, Lehner did not go to the hospital because he did not want the media as much as other people to find out about it, during his move home everything in him hurt, both physically and mentally, but the player stopped on the road to do what he says would be the only thing common for him, to drink, which was the same thing he did when he got home, but in the middle of the night he woke up his wife to say those words which he had never said for lack of courage, “I have to go away”.

The player had suicidal thoughts and in fact was close to committing that act on several occasions, he says that his battle with hockey was nothing if you compared it with the battle that was taking place in his brain, he also said that at the beginning of the new year, he felt depressed and his level of alcohol consumption increased because for him that was the solution for the demons in his mind as well as the consumption of sleeping pills. He was treating himself since he could not be alone inside his head.

Despite everything he had faced, Lehner was not sure about going to rehabilitation until he saw his lawyer Frank with whom he had a long conversation that helped him take that step, in fact, the player says that his lawyer was the one who He gave that last push to do something about it. His wife was happy when she knew that she would go to rehabilitation since on many occasions she tried to help him. When beginning this process Lehner had to detoxify which took him three weeks and in fact, he had been told that his detoxification was one of the worst they had seen. But the problem of the player went beyond an addiction and likewise now says “I am an addict who was diagnosed as bipolar disorder and ADHD with post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma”, he added “Now there is a new reality. career”.

Similarly, Lehner has said fully “Today I am here, I am a happy man, it is the first time I try to live the moment, day by day”.

Take a read: https://theathletic.com/522117/2018/09/13/islanders-goalie-robin-lehner-opens-up-about-his-addiction-and-bipolar-diagnosis-i-could-not-stand-being-alone-in-my-brain/